Caster



IINTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERIC F. J. BROCK, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CASTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 558,720, dated April21, 1896.

' Application filed January 2, 1896. Serial No. 574,104. (No'model.)

To all whom t 11a/ay concern:

Beit known that I, FREDERIC F. J. BROCK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCasters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a new and useful improvement in casters forfurniture, and has for its object to provide such a device by the use ofwhich furniture of all kinds may be leveled so as to have a firm bearingupon the floor; and with these ends in viewthe invention consists in thedetails of construction and combination of elements hereinafter setforth, and then specifically designated by the claim. Y

In order that those skilled in the art to which my invention appertainsmay understand how to make and use the same, I will describe itsconstruction and operation in detail, referring by number to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and inwhich- Figure l is a central vertical section of a portion of myinvention, showing it applied to the leg of a piece of furniture; Fig.2, a similar view showing a slightly-modified form of caster; Fig. 3, adetail of the jam-nut.

Similar numbers denote like parts in all the views of the drawings.

IIeretofore much inconvenience has been occasioned by the use of theordinary casters in that when a piece of furniture, such as a table, didnot bear firmly upon the iioor the only remedy was a resetting of thecasters, and as this requires considerable skill, as well as expense andannoyance, the disadvantage of an unsteady piece of furniture was bornewith. I have overcome these difficulties and render the adjustment ofthe casters on the pieces of furniture easily accomplished with butlittle addition to the expense of said casters, and this I accomplish inthe following manner:

lis a socket, adapted to be secured within a suitable opening in the leg2 of the piece of furniture, and this socket is threaded interiorly toreceive the stem 3, which is threaded eXteriorly and provided with ahexagonal head 4. In Figs. l and 2 this stem has ahole formedtherethrough to receive the shank 5 of the' caster 6, which in the caseof Fig. 1 is the usual rod riveted within said stem and to the bracket7, so that the latter may turn therethrough, as is well understood, andin the case of Fig. 2 the hole in the stem is adapted to receive thetapered shank of the ordinary casters.

8 is a jam-nut run upon the threads of the stem 3, for the purposeshereinafter1 set forth.

In practice, to level a piece of furniture it is only necessary to backthe stem 3 of one of the casters out of the socket until its casterbears further upon the floor. Then, with the remaining casters andthreads, run the jamnut S firmly against the socket or bottom of theleg, which will prevent any further movement of the stem until said nuthas been released.

I prefer to provide jam-nut 8 with the thumb-piece 12, in order that itmaybe moved back and forth in advance of the caster without thenecessity of usingthe wrench.

Having thus fully described my invention, l

what I claim as new and useful is-- In a device of the characterdescribed, an interiorly-screw-threaded socket adapted to t in anaperture in a furniture -leg, said socket having a flange on its outeredge, an eX- teriorly-screw-threaded stem having a central aperture anintegral nut on the stem adapted to screw the stem within said socket, acaster having a pin adapted to enter said aperture in the stem and ajam-nut having a thumbpiece projecting from its side near the top, andadapted to be screwed on said stem and bear against the iiange of thesocket as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERIC F. J. BROCK.

Witnesses:

PETER DONEGAN, V.TAMEs F. BROWN.

